The old Wizard turns as his apprentice bursts through the tower's entrance.

" 'ere now, whot is all'dis?" The old Wizard replies.

"A scourge sire! The dead have risen… and they march against us! All of Valhalla must be warned!" exclaims the apprentice as he scurries through the room, tossing things to one side or another.

"Slow down boy!" the old Wizard grabs him by the arm. "Whot in Hel are ye looking fer?"

"The gate crystal sire, where is the gate crystal?" the young boy continues to toss things to the side.

"Look in the chest, in the corner…" the Wizard points to the corner.

The young apprentice rushes to the corner and flings open the large oaken chest. Shifting various items around, he suddenly stops as a blue glow washes over his features. He slowly lifts a glowing, blue gate crystal from the chest wrapped in a dirty piece of linen. His eyes stare deep within. "Sire, this the one, this is the one!"

"Whot do ye mean? The one whot?"

"Ye know full well 'whot' i mean 'sire'…" The boy lifts the crystal above his head. The eerie blue glow begins to slowly creep down the young man's arms. The blue glow engulfs the boy. His flesh begins to rot, his features begin to morph into something altogether different.

The old Wizard yells, "Drop the crystal boy!!"

What used to be the young apprentice drops to both knees. A boney face looks up at the old Wizard.

"Norsaroth!!" The old Wizard raises his hands. "Begone from this place!" And with a wave of his arms, the blue glow shifts to orange and the Skeletal Knight disintegrates from sight with a defiant roar. Leaving a small, blue crystal wrapped in a dirty linen rag where he once stood.

The old Wizard walks over to the crystal, and being very mindful, picks the crystal shard up, while making sure to only contact the linen. "Norsaroth… unbelievable… so many years ago…"

The Wizard stares at the crystal, contemplating what has transpired and what must be done.

"So, The Frost King returns and his army of whitewalkers canna' be far behind, just as the boy said." The old Wizard looks at the crystal once more…. "… still though, Norsaroth came from the crystal… meaning he must have been placed inside by another… most likely the crystal served as his prison for these many years."

The old Wizard wipes the table in front of him clean… shoving parchment and flasks aside, even paying no mind to his previous alchemical experiment.. he places the crystal in the center. He carefully draws an arcane symbol, in a circular pattern, around the crystal and lights 3 candles.

The old man bows his head. "To a dark dank place i send thee, never to be used by The Frost King again… 'Leg-et-en-sol u-namen-ut-ta in-du-rel-por!'
and after the magic words are spoken, the crystal is gone.

"Norsaroth will want the crystal to travel back and forth between realms. Tis' the only way he can conquer all lands. I canna' let that happen. Indeed, my poor young apprentice was correct… the realm must be warned… The Lord of the whitewalkers has returned, and this time, we may not be able to stop him".

"The sword itself is but an alchemical symbol for man: the sheath be naught but flesh; iron for the bone, gold for the blood, silver is the heart, fire trains the will, and the edge is the mind... " --Volund

"They did it!! Norsaroth was repelled and the realm remains in the control of Asgard. Thank thee ye gods!"

The old Wizard sleeps for a day and begins to stir when he remembers an odd alchemical experiment...

"?... more than one crystal... ?"

-V

"The sword itself is but an alchemical symbol for man: the sheath be naught but flesh; iron for the bone, gold for the blood, silver is the heart, fire trains the will, and the edge is the mind... " --Volund